


T. Rex, Velveeta, and Other Fun Names

by Bluefire510



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: A lot of piss poor guessing, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Julie trying to find out Luke's middle name, Mild Swearing, With a side of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:14:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29674065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluefire510/pseuds/Bluefire510
Summary: Julie wants to find out Luke's middle name, but he's not making things easy for her.
Relationships: Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 37
Kudos: 176





	T. Rex, Velveeta, and Other Fun Names

_Lucas T. Patterson_

The madness of this week all started when Julie thumbed through Luke’s journal and found her songwriting partner’s messy scrawl inscribed in the behind the front cover. 

Yeah, it was his name, Julie would have griped about how illegible it was and moved on to whatever song she and Luke had been workshopping the day before and thought nothing of it- 

If it weren’t for the fact that there was a flurry of deep inset scratches of pen scribbling out the space where his middle name was supposed to be, leaving only the ‘T’ unscathed… 

“So I was thinking, maybe we change the key. I thought I was feeling A Major,” Luke rattled off, playing the aforementioned series of chords on his electric, “But now, I think we could really intensify it by flipping to a minor key-” 

“What’s the 'T' stand for?” 

The ghost looked up, confused, “Huh?” 

Julie held up the inner cover of the journal, pointing to his name, “Lucas T. Patterson. The T- what does it stand for?” 

It was a simple question, but all color drained from his face. 

“O-Oh. Oh that?” Luke stammered through, struggling to rid himself of his guitar, the skull and rose strap kept swatting his face in his hurry.

She nodded. 

He was across the room in seconds, back facing her, pretending to fiddle with the amp settings, even going as far as inspecting Alex’s drums. Thank goodness the drummer wasn’t there right now or else he would be getting a thorough lecture. ("Tell him to stop touching my drums!" extended to his bandmates as well).

“It, uh, stands for my middle name,” he said, still not looking at her. 

“I get that. So what is it?” 

“It’s nothing,” 

Julie rose from the piano bench, traversing the studio until she was right behind him. She forced him to pivot and face her, “No, it’s clearly something.” 

Luke gave a dismissive wave and a weak nonchalant laugh, “It’s not a big deal,” 

“It clearly is if you won’t tell me,” 

Then his head cocked to the side. He cupped his ear, “Uh, what’s that? I think I heard Carlos!”

“What?” She couldn’t hear anything. 

“Oh, you need help, Carlos? On my way!” 

“He can’t even-” 

In a flash of light and warp of reality, Julie was alone in the studio. 

“- hear you...” 

Oh boy. 

Now what was _that_ about?

* * *

Ever since then, Julie’s curiosity only grew. Why was Luke so evasive when it came to his middle name? What could possibly be the reason? 

With all the secrecy and going great lengths to omit it from his journal, she was betting on it being insanely embarrassing. 

Which made Julie want to find out even more. 

Luke didn’t get embarrassed so easily, not much to weaponize against him whenever they all made playful jabs at each other from time to time, like the friends they were. Really it was stuff like ‘Beware, Luke this shirt has sleeves’ which basically translated to ‘Haha, you’re attractive’. 

Which did not pack quite the punch. 

She was determined to decode Luke’s middle name, if not to quench her curiosity then to humble the guy. 

He couldn’t be attractive _and_ talented. Something’s gotta give. 

(And no, she didn’t often think about how attractive and talented he was… Nope. Not at all). 

“Tristan?” she threw out while they were backstage at their next gig. 

Luke tuned his guitar, “Nope”

“Thomas?” 

“Nuh-uh” 

“Terrence?” 

He finally looked up, smirking, “You will never find out.” 

The tech burst in, phasing through the ghostly forms of the boys, to lead her out onto the stage. 

She inwardly cursed. Saved by the bell. 

“Break a leg, boss,” Luke wiggled his fingers at her before she was practically pushed past the curtain. 

Even when she sat down to play the piano, Julie could not get the image of Luke’s smug face out of her mind. Oh, he probably thought her attempts were just so cute. 

Yeah, cute for now. 

But she wasn’t done yet. 

  
  


* * *

“Alright, guys. Help me solve the mystery. What’s Luke’s middle name?”

It was one of those rare occasions where Luke was out of the house, leaving her, Alex, and Reggie alone. 

The boys had been present for her previous tries to weasel Luke’s middle name out of him, and they were amused for the most part- Well, never as amused as Luke ‘Thinks He’s All That’ Patterson (not a serious contender in her guessing, by the way). 

With their reactions, and however many years of brotherhood shared among the three of them, Alex and Reggie just had to know. 

They were all chilling in the kitchen, Reggie perched on top of the counter and Alex lounging at the table. Julie poured herself a juice, waiting on the answer. 

The bassist straightened up, “Oh. It’s-” Then he stopped, face scrunched up in a frown of concentration. 

Julie directed her gaze at Alex, who was ready to jump in. 

“No, wait it’s…” He faltered. 

The two boys’s heads snapped to stare at each other as they pieced it together. 

“Dude, I don’t think-” 

“No. He had to have. I’m just blanking,” 

“Guys?” 

“Oh my god,” Alex uttered, pushing his golden locks back into his cap, “It took us this long to notice?!” 

They were now on their feet, sandwiching Julie.

“We... don’t...know,” Reggie winced, admitting it out loud. 

_“How could you not know?”_

“I don’t think he ever told us!” was the bassist’s defense, “He’s Fort Luke when he wants to be!” 

He made the gesture of locking his lips and throwing away the key to which Alex nodded. 

“Now _I_ wanna know!” 

“Me too!” 

Now this was a development. If Luke’s boys had no clue, then it must be really juicy.

Taking a sip from her cup, Julie was all ready to recruit two new members for the noble cause… 

* * *

Julie, Alex, and Reggie huddled in a circle at the studio, all bearing notebooks and furiously whispering at each other and scribbling away when Luke decided to make an appearance. 

They dispersed, making their collusion all the more suspicious. 

“Luke,” They all greeted, with the same level of enthusiasm… at the same time. 

The guitarist eyed them skeptically. Then he took in the notebooks, “You’re having a band meeting. Without me?” he asked, hurt flashed in his hazel eyes. 

“No, silly. We’re having a band meeting _about_ you,”

“Reggie!” Alex and Julie hissed. 

That only added to Luke’s hurt and confusion. 

Sending him a reassuring smile, she guided him to an empty chair, placed right in the middle, just beyond the coffee table, “Sit down. Please.”

“Okay?” Slow steps and weird stares later, his butt plopped onto the seat, “Can someone tell me what’s all this abo-?” 

“Lucas Theodore Patterson?” Alex leapt in front of Luke, reading his guess off his notebook. 

Luke’s shoulders slumped, seeing where this was all going. 

“Guys, really? You too-?” 

“Is it or is it not Theodore?” Julie backed Alex up. 

“God no,” 

Reggie was up next, “Lucas Timothy Patterson?”

The nose scrunch answered for them. 

“Lucas Tyrone Patterson?” as was Julie’s turn. 

“No flow,” 

And so they were stuck in a circle for the next 20 minutes, everyone taking turns guessing Luke’s middle name, their lists growing more desperate and random as they continued, even going as far as borderline yelling the names at him- that was how frustrated they were. 

“Lucas Troy Patterson,”

“No” 

“Lucas Trixie Patterson?!” 

“That’s not even- that’s not even a guys name-” 

“It’s Tyrannosaurus Rex. I’m telling you. It has to be!” Reggie slammed his notebook down, poking Luke hard in the chest with his index finger, “Admit it! LUCAS. T. REX PATTERSON!”

“Boy, I wish,” 

Their guessing game, once the last of the names have been recited, left all of them breathless (even though two of them were ghosts!). 

On any other occasion, Luke would have been sympathetic, especially seeing how broken up and defeated they all looked collapsed onto the couch, glaring at him like he was the enemy.

But their fruitless attempts only made him all the more victorious. 

“Nice try guys,” he patted each of them on the shoulder before heading out. 

Best to give them a break. 

Ya know, to deal with the defeat. 

* * *

She was nothing if not persistent. 

But Julie knew she might have been taking things too far when she had made the trip to Emily’s. 

Look, she thought she could just pay the woman a visit, to check up on her, catch up- 

Maybe ask leading questions in order to trick her into telling her her son’s middle name?

Yeah, the plan was flawed from the start because how could she so subtly direct the conversation to her dead son’s middle name. 

Maybe get her to tell a story about Luke getting in big enough trouble that would have warranted the whole ‘yelling-out-your-full-name’ treatment? Which was a total stretch. 

But she didn’t expect it to be the complete and utter disaster that it was. 

If Alex and Reggie hadn’t gotten impatient and started snooping around Luke’s old room and digging through his things to find some sort of sign for his name, and if Luke hadn’t decided to intervene, creating all kinds of ruckus in other rooms for his mom to stop and check- 

Then maybe they wouldn’t all be sitting on the Molina living room couch hours, getting read the riot act by Luke Patterson of all people. 

“I had to tip over my aunt’s vase!!” 

“Well, if it's any consolation, your mom always hated that vase?” Reggie chuckled before being promptly silenced by one look from Luke. 

Alex spluttered, “But, like, you didn’t have to break it??” 

“I did what I had to do,”

“Your mom was so freaked out!” 

“Well, that’s on you guys,” 

Julie just about had enough with all these games, she pushed herself up from the couch, squaring up against Luke’s unwavering gaze, “You’re being ridiculous!” 

_“Me?”_ he yelled, taken aback, “ _You_ went to my house!” 

“We just wanted to know!” 

“Oh my god!” His hands gripped at his hair, “Why do you wanna know my middle name so badly?” 

“I like knowing stuff about you, okay!” 

Luke stepped back. Eyes wide. 

That- 

That wasn’t meant to come out. 

Especially in the booming, shrill tone she used. 

“Oh…” 

Luke was playing with the sleeves of his oversized flannel, the air between them thick and brimming with awkwardness. It didn’t help that Alex and Reggie took this as the opportunity to flee. 

Now it was just the two of them in the living room. 

Breathing deeply to collect herself because it finally hit her- they were in a screaming match all because of a _middle name_. Like, Luke wasn’t the only one being ridiculous. It was her too. This whole quest to figure out what the T in his name stood for was so pointless.

They were fighting and Julie didn’t like it. 

“And,” she cleared her throat, dislodging the unpleasantness, “there’s something clearly bothering you about it. Just… maybe thought I could help?” 

Julie had been kidding herself. Messing with Luke might have been her initial goal, but what bugged her most about not knowing his middle name was the fact that even after all the time they spent together, there were things that Luke still wouldn’t tell her. 

He was entitled to keep his secrets, yes, and she still felt bad for spying on him on his birthday. But, they were bandmates, writing partners, _friends_. She had confided in him a lot and he with her, and they just… 

They always had this closeness. A closeness that she appreciated and didn’t take for granted. 

And she had acted so recklessly because of it. 

Luke nodded, taking it in. He didn’t look mad, but he understood. Julie could tell he was able to get more from her than the words she spouted at him. 

“It’s, just,” his voice lowered into a self-conscious whisper, “It’s just something I don’t like a lot of people knowing...”

“I’m sorry. I pushed,” 

“It’s okay,” the left corner of his mouth twitched, “You wouldn’t be Julie, if you didn’t” he playfully punched her shoulder.

She gaped at him in mock offense, “Hey!” 

“Just saying. Tt’s not the first time you showed up on my doorstep, digging up my past,” she instinctively grimaced but Luke reached for her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers, “But I know it’s coming from a good place. Thanks.”

He really shouldn’t be so forgiving, Julie thought. But she was just happy that they could just leave this mess behind them. 

“I’ll get the guys to drop it,” she offered. 

That made Luke laugh, “Good luck with that. Reggie’s wearing Alex down. Now he’s seriously considering my middle name to be ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’,”

“If it was _that_ embarrassing, I’d see why you’d keep it a secret,” 

It seemed like Luke wanted to say something but shook his head and thought better of it. Instead he tugged her by the hand to the door, “Come on. You never did give me your opinion on the key change…” 

* * *

It was months later when it finally came out. 

They were in her room. She was doing homework and he was getting a jump start on their newest song, working side by side on the floor. 

Her laptop was open, some randomly chosen Spotify playlist streaming in the background. All was well when the familiar chords of ‘Get Lost’ started playing, causing Luke to visibly tense up. 

“Trevor,” 

“Right. Sorry, I’ll turn it off-” 

“No. That’s…” He sighed and moved into a kneeling position. 

Pushing his already opened journal to Julie, Luke flipped it to the cover, where his name was written. 

He pointed to the scribbles over his middle name.

Where only the T was exposed… 

Trevor. 

“ _Lucas...Trevor...Patterson?”_

“My full name. Ba-da?” his jazz hands fell flat, betrayed by the quiver in his voice. 

“Oh,” 

“I, uh, never liked how it sounded. And you know how I feel… about things that just don’t flow right” 

Julie did. For sure. Scrapped lyrics and melodies were often what happened. Never to be brought up again. 

He continued, “My mom would insist on writing out my full name on my notebooks for school- Luke Patterson is already so generic,” and the first genuine chuckle of the night huffed out, “Never used them for class of course. Just to write songs.” 

“Tre-Bobby,” she corrected herself “He would have needed proof that he wrote everything...” 

“My old notebook. That had ‘Get Lost’ and ‘Crooked Teeth’. Made the mistake of writing it in pencil. It’d be so easy to just-” 

Slamming the laptop closed, silencing the song, Julie enveloped the ghost in a hug. He melted against her, hands gripping onto her shoulders from behind, for dear life, the weight of the reveal finally taking its toll. 

“I didn’t like my middle name before. Now, I just- I just can’t stand it,” he whispered into her shirt. 

“I’m so sorry, Luke” 

“Were the songs not enough? He had to steal my name too?” 

The ache carried by his voice made Julie squeeze tighter. 

She had no words. 

What Bobby did, what he took from Luke, was more than she could ever fathom. She didn’t know what to do, what to say to him to soothe the pain. 

She only held him. 

For as long as he needed.

* * *

"How come Alex and Reggie never found out?" she would ask him later. 

"Didn't make it a habit to show off my journal" 

She frowned, "But you let _me_ read it." 

Luke, too, had no words in response. 

* * *

“Hey, wanna go on a walk with me?” Julie asked him out of the blue one evening. 

Luke could definitely use a break, especially from whatever row Alex and Reggie had just gotten into. He nodded and took her offered hand. 

They took a stroll down her street, hands still joined but hidden in Julie’s hoodie pocket (as to not make it seem like she was grasping at air). The sun was beginning to set over the hills as they could see from their vantage point in the park, their set destination. 

Julie seemed to have some purpose for this random walk because she was leading him around until they reached a tree in a more secluded part of the grounds. 

Whipping out a pocket knife, Julie replaced her hand in her grasp with the odd tool. 

“What’s this?” 

“For a while, I lost all sense of what music meant to me. I thought music was my mom. That if she’s gone then there’s no point in going on,” 

“Aw, Jules” 

Her sunny disposition shone through in a smile, “It’s okay. I had to redefine music for myself. Give it new meaning. Music is not just my mom. It’s my family and Flynn. It’s you and the guys” she shrugged, “It’s me.” 

“I would have told you that,” A tender touch to her forearm coaxed an even bigger smile from the girl, “You definitely are music.” 

Momentarily distracted by the compliment, it took a moment for Julie to get back on track. 

“What I’m trying to say is. I think it’s time for you to redefine yourself. There’s stuff in your old life that you miss, but there’s also stuff you want to leave in the past…” 

It dawned on Luke what Julie was referring to. 

“That ‘T’ is a placeholder. You could go by a different middle name. You could do whatever you want. You’re a ghost now. You can… move on. So,” she revealed the blade and placed it in his palm once more. She nodded at the tree. 

“Go ahead. Go give your name a new meaning, Make your mark,” 

Grinning, Luke picked up on her plan and began carving into the trunk, his initials, all three letters representing his name, with each mark easier to craft than the last, imbuing more love and meaning into them, just like what Julie said. 

Once done, he admired his handiwork, floored by how cathartic it was, to have his name on something that was gonna last. 

_L.T.P_

He was taking back his goddamn name.

He beheld it with pride. 

“I’ll ask again,” Julie leaned against the tree, tracing the letters with her fingers, “What’s the 'T' stand for?” 

With no hesitation he said- 

“Thundercat,”

 _“W-What?”_ Julie choked. 

He lost it at her reaction, “You said whatever I want. I loved that show as a kid!” he giggled. 

_“Lucas… Thundercat… Patterson,_ ” Julie so badly wanted to make a comment, Luke could tell. But she changed her mind, “You know what? If it makes you so happy then go for it. Who am I to stop you?” 

“Nah, I’ll think of something else later on. But it’s my afterlife. I could go through as many middle names as I want, right?” 

“Exactly,” 

Luke returned her knife and thought she was going to slip it back into her pocket. Instead, she strode up to the tree and proceeded to carve her own initials right below his. 

“There. So your name doesn’t have to be lonely up there,” she folded up the blade and put it away. 

“You know that, uh, couples usually do that kind of thing,” Luke couldn’t help but notice that, with the way their initials were oriented on the tree. 

A rosy hue graced the girl’s cheeks, “Oh...yeah.” 

A beat of silence followed, just the two of them staring at the tree. 

“I like how our names look next to each other though,” 

Luke nodded, a warm feeling settling in the pit of his stomach and rising, “Me too.” 

Squinting, he read Julie’s initials, “ _J.V.M._ What does the ‘V’ stand for?” 

A devious glint sparkled in her eyes, “Maybe you’ll just have to guess.” 

“Aw come on!” 

She raised an eyebrow, “Oh as if you made it easy for me?”

Ok. She had him there, “Fair enough.” 

The whole walk home, Luke ran through all the ‘V’ names he could think of. 

“Julianna Valeria?” 

“Nope,” 

“Julianna Vanessa?” 

“C’mon, songwriter. Where’s the flow?” she teased. 

Luke snapped his fingers, believing he cracked the code, “Victoria. After your aunt,” 

“No. But imagine how mad she was when she found out,” 

“Venus, Vanilla, Vaseline-” 

_“Vaseline?”_

They were at her doorstep, and he bounded in front of her, blocking her path, “I won’t give up.” 

“I don’t expect you to,” 

“Velveeta. Like the cheese” 

“It’s Valentina,” she finally said, pushing him aside, fishing through her pockets for the keys to open the front door. 

“You got Valentina while I got stuck with Trevor?” She lucked out in the middle name department, that was for sure. Of course someone like Julie got shacked up with a beautiful name like Valentina… 

“I could change mine too. In solidarity,” she said offhandedly. 

“If I go with Reggie’s suggestion: Tyrannosaurus Rex then would you be Velociraptor?” 

“T.Rex and Velociraptor?” she laughed in disbelief, finally walking through the threshold of her house. Thank goodness everyone else was already upstairs. 

“From this day forth, I will be known Lucas Tyrannosaurus Rex Patterson!” he confidently declared

“And I’ll be Julianna Velociraptor Molina!” she repeated, taking much pleasure in the absurdity of it. 

“Were you a dinosaur kid?”

“You saw my slippers and my PJs...” 

“True,” 

* * *

Luke didn’t expect for them to take the whole new middle name thing so seriously. 

But if they so happened to greet each other next time with prehistoric roars and with him tackling her onto the studio couch and pretending to bite her like the carnivore he was, then that was for them to know…

And for Alex and Reggie to remain confused about.

  
  


* * *

Bonus: 

And after some years down the line and one magical reincarnation later, Luke decided to change his name again. 

“Patterson’s okay,” he said to Julie, “But I think I need something new.” 

“Oh yeah? What are you thinking?” 

Luke went down on one knee, in front of the tree they marked up when they were teenagers, ring in hand. 

“Molina sounds pretty good to me…” 

**Author's Note:**

> Result of me and Ephemeral_Joy being weird on Discord. Credit to her for some of these middle names (Valentina was was the gold mine). 
> 
> We have made tons of terrible middle names for the two of them. 
> 
> Personally, I'm a fan of the Lucas Theodore Patterson. It sound good and I used it in a couple of other fics. 
> 
> And despite giving Julie a middle name that starts with 'V', I'm a huge proponent of Julianna Rosa Molina (a variation of her mom's name). 
> 
> If anyone wants to know what these shitty other middle names are, maybe drop a comment or stalk my tumblr.


End file.
